A year later, rape case awaits day in court

Sunday

Dec 22, 2013 at 3:00 AM

By Emily WeaverTimes-News Staff Writer

UpdateRecent court documents show that Tyler Scott Garren was 17 at the time this story was originally published.

It was nearly one year ago when the lives of five teens were upended after an alcohol-fueled party.Four were charged with felony rape. One suffered from post traumatic stress disorder. Two appeared on a syndicated daytime talk show. And now there seems to be no end in sight for the case of four students accused of raping a classmate that landed in the national spotlight.Prosecutors with the office of State Attorney General Roy Cooper, who took over the case in August, appeared in Henderson County Superior Court on Monday. Noelle Talley, public information officer for the N.C. Department of Justice, said they were unable to set a date for even the next administrative court setting, let alone a date for trial.James “Matt” Bishop, 17, Joseph Vincent Curto, 18, Tyler Scott Garren, 18, and Justin Wesley Ponder, 18, who were all minors at the time of the incident were charged as adults with felony second-degree rape. The victim, who was 16 at the time, told investigators that three of the young men raped her while she was in and out of consciousness on a couch at Garren's home during a party Dec. 8.All four of the accused admitted to having sex with her, but said it was consensual, according to search warrants.In an effort to stress her son's innocence, Dianne Bishop reached out to the “Dr. Phil” show. Matt Bishop, flanked by his parents, appeared in a two-part series that featured the case, Bishop's story and what the victim recalled of the night.On the show, Matt Bishop defended himself by saying the girl was fully aware of what she was doing at the party, where the group downed a bottle-and-a-half of liquor. He said she initiated sex with him and then asked for more, so he returned to his friends and recruited her next partner.The girl told “Dr. Phil” McGraw that she woke up to Bishop getting off of her, while the other guys stood around her in their underwear. She said she had no memory of what happened until almost two days later, when she realized someone had erased from her phone the text messages she had exchanged with the boys about the party.All of the teens were students of East Henderson High School at the time of the incident, but have since transferred to different schools. The victim told “Dr. Phil” that she has suffered from PTSD since the incident.If convicted of their felony rape charges, the teens could face up to four years and 10 months in prison and a possible sex offender status.Reach Weaver at emily.weaver@blueridgenow.com or 828-694-7867.